"Who ever thought a Capitol girl would fall for a District girl, huh?"
"Not me"
When Reef Murphy was reaped to represent her District in the 10th annual Hunger Games she expected to die protecting her young district partner.
She didn't expect to...
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CHAOS ERUPTED ALL around them. People screamed in terror as they grabbed their children and ran away, Reef watched in horror at what had happened she understood why Brandy might do something like this but the consequences would come for her.
"Help her!"The voice of Persephone screamed out, tears falling down her face.
Reef watches as then mentors body fell to the ground, Persephone and Lucy Gray's Mentor whom Reef believes is called Snow ran over to her, Snow holds her in his arms and he and Persephone try to comfort the dying girl.
Mizzen came running over to make sure that Reef was okay standing by her with a concerned look on his face, the pair from Four watched as Brandy picked up the sandwich that the mentor had been teasing her with and stuffs it quickly into her mouth like she'd never eaten before.
Bullets soon rang out, Reef grabbed Mizzen and pulled him down onto the ground, she pulled him close to her and whispered comforting words into his ears as she used her body to shield him from any potential stray bullets.
Reef stayed in that position for a while wanting to make sure things were safe, she looked up and saw Brandy's body slump forward and slam against the bars. In a matter of seconds, two young lives were snuffed out.
Slowly everyone began to move, Reef standing up and extending her hand out to Mizzen and pulling him up. "You okay, are you hurt?"Reef asks Her voice was full of concern.
"I'm fine"Mizzen tells her, his voice full of worry over what he had just seen, the young boy's innocence having been shattered slightly something Reef wanted to stop from happening.
Tanner walks over to his fallen District partner's body, he lays her on the ground gently and whispers words to her that Reef can't hear.
The small moment of quiet is quickly snuffed out as Peacekeepers storm into the cage, their guns aimed at the tributes in a manner that told Reef that they would shoot them down if they did anything they didn't like. They lined the twenty-three remaining tributes up against the bars of the cage, Mizzen hand gripping Reef's so tightly she was worried he'd break it, he looked up at her with a fearful look in his eyes.
"Nobody move or you will be shot"A deep gravely voice of the head Peacekeeper calls out causing Mizzen to grip Reef's hand even tighter, she hated not being able to comfort him but she worried that any sudden movement would cause her to meet Brandy and the mentor girl in the afterlife.
People covered head to toe in hazard gear entered the cage with a stretcher, they picked up Brandy's body and dumped it on the stretcher without a care in the world for Brandy, anger began to rise in Reef but she had to contain it for her and Mizzen's safety.
A large pool of blood remained on the ground but once Brandy's body was taken out nobody came in to sort it, maybe they wanted to keep it there as a reminder to the tributes of what they would do to them if they stepped out of line again.
The head Peacekeeper turned back to the remaining tributes a look of pure disgust on his face. "Go back to what you were doing"he announces before quickly turning on his heels and exiting the cage, the door being slammed behind him.
Nobody moved for a moment unsure of what to do, then Mizzen made the first movement and slammed his body into Reef, the older girl pulling him as close as possible and holds him as tightly as she would hold Dylan when he had a nightmare, she rubbed his back and rocked him slowly backwards and forwards. "It's okay Little Fish, I'm here"
Reef would always be there to protect him.
BY THE TIME night was upon the tributes the atmosphere in the cage was still very tense, the tributes remained in their pairs, apart from Tanner the boy from Ten now alone, he spent most of the rest of the day sitting by the pool of Brandy's blood that had begun to stink out the cage, but eventually he moved away from the spot and spent a lot of his time watching Reef and Mizzen.
Mizzen was the first to notice Tanner watching them and alerted Reef, whose mind began to wonder what he could want, did he want to kill them? Did he want to team up? Reef would have to find out tomorrow as all the tributes but her were sleeping.
Reef looked up at the moon that shone high in the dark sky, reminding her of home and the way the moon reflected in the sea, she smiled when she thought of home but also looked down at the sleeping figure of Mizzen who was close by to her, with Reef's jacket over him to bring the young boy extra comfort.
"Reef!"A voice called out barely above a whisper and for a minute she thought she was going crazy, the tole of Brandy's death hitting her brain but when she looked round she saw a figure at the cage bars.
She gave the sleeping Mizzen one last look to check he was okay before slowly walking over to the figure as she got closer she saw it was Persephone but the girl did not look okay, he face was tear-stained and her eyes were bloodshot from the intense crying.
"Are you okay?"Reef asks but then immediately chastises herself for the stupid question. "Sorry, that was stupid to ask, obviously your not, your friend died"
"She wasn't my friend"were the words that came tumbling out of the older girl's mouth. "I didn't even like her, she was horrible to everyone, I don't know why I'm even crying"
Reef sighed and motioned for her to sit down, which she did. "How long have you known her?"Reef asks.
"Since we were kids"Was the response Persephone gave.
"That's why you're sad then, that's why you're crying. You may not have liked her but she was someone you have known all your life and that still means something"Reef explains.
Sobbs begin to escape from Persephone's mouth. "I've never lost anyone before, I don't know how to handle it"
Reef thinks for a moment about how much of her life she should share with Persephone but seeing her so upset she wanted to help in any way she could. "When my dad died we all reacted differently, my mama had just had the twins and was a complete wreck, she didn't leave her bed for days"Reef starts.
Her eyes begin to flood with tears as memories of that time start to come back. "I was thirteen at the time and was super close with my dad but I had to bury how I was feeling to take care of my family, Dylan was Ten at the time he didn't fully understand being as young as he was but I caught him late at night laid next to our mom on dad's side of the bed"Reef fishes explaining and Persephone looks at her with sympathy in her eyes.
"Theirs no one right way to grieve, everyone does it differently"Reef continues.
Persephone reaches her hand through the bars, taking Reef's hand in her own and squeezing it gently. "Thank you, and you're the strongest person I know"she tells her with a kind smile.
Reef returns her smile and with that Persephone departs from the cage and heads off into the darkness of the night.
